Venture capitalists are our best hope for a cancer cure, energy independence and a solution to global warming. Without venture capitalists there might be no personal computers, no overnight mail delivery, no genetically engineered drugs, no Web browsers. Venture capitalists raise incomes, tax revenues and living standards for everybody by financing technology and economic efficiency. But if they think this entitles them to continue paying income tax at rates otherwise available only to people below the poverty line, they are delusional, arrogant or both.

Venture capitalists in the third quarter invested $445.7 million in 53 projects in the region that includes Maryland, Virginia and Washington, more than double the amount for the quarter last year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' MoneyTree Report released Friday. It also is the first time in a few years that the region's third quarter was stronger than the second quarter, which tends to be most robust, said Brad Phillips, director of emerging company services at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The money men of HealthCare Investment Corp. work the Amtrak line, whizzing back and forth between Maryland's biotechnology corner in the Washington suburbs and Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston.Along the way these venture capitalists have staked hundreds of millions of dollars on the dreams of science and founded companies with breathtaking speed: Genetic Therapy Inc. in 1986, Molecular Oncology Inc. in 1988, MedImmune Inc. in 1988, and Pharmavene Inc. in 1990.That's just in Maryland. There are 20 others scattered along the path of the Metroliner, and by the end of this year they promise to start three more biotech companies in Maryland, including one in Baltimore, with another three due by 1995.

Uncertainty over the economy contributed to a nearly 27 percent drop last year in venture capital funding for young companies in Maryland, Washington and Northern Virginia, the first decrease since 2009, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Last year, venture capitalists invested $725.1 million in 164 deals in the area, down from $987.5 million for 163 deals in 2011. On a percentage basis, the decrease in dollars was more than twice the national average for last year, when funding dropped 10 percent to $26.5 billion invested in nearly 3,700 deals, PricewaterhouseCoopers reported.

Venture capitalists in the region reduced the amount of money they invested in companies in the second quarter and saw fewer deal proposals, according to a survey released yesterday by the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association. Despite the pullback, venture capitalists remain optimistic about the health of the private equity market and about opportunities to profit as companies "exit" their portfolios by going public or merging, the survey said. "I am encouraged by the fact that the VC [venture capital]

By William Patalon III and William Patalon III,SUN STAFF | January 25, 2005

Venture capital investment in Maryland firms rebounded in 2004, reversing a three-year decline that mirrored a national trend and hinting at better things to come for the state's emerging-technology firms, experts say. "I think that we'll be seeing [venture] investors nationally looking here to put large amounts of investment capital into numerous companies here," Bill Gust, a veteran venture capitalist who now serves as managing general partner of Anthem Capital Management in Baltimore, said yesterday.

Pete Linsert sounded as if he was plotting a political campaign, or maybe an advertising plan for cars.The audience will remember images, not facts, he said. Soft-pedal the complicated stuff so their eyes won't glaze over: If you grab people with the basics, there will be time to tell them more when they come in.But Martek Corp., his Columbia biotechnology company, is years away from having to worry about national media buys. Instead, Henry "Pete" Linsert Jr. was explaining his strategy for selling to a much smaller, more elite audience -- the venture capitalists, investors and other business people who attended last week's Baltimore-Washington Venture Fair '90, the first fair of its type ever held in Maryland.

Venture capitalists in the third quarter invested $445.7 million in 53 projects in the region that includes Maryland, Virginia and Washington, more than double the amount for the quarter last year, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' MoneyTree Report released Friday. It also is the first time in a few years that the region's third quarter was stronger than the second quarter, which tends to be most robust, said Brad Phillips, director of emerging company services at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The U.S. Department of Commerce has begun a program to match minority businesses with venture capitalists looking for companies in which to invest. The initiative is headed by the department's Minority Business Development Agency, which in a study last year found that minority entrepreneurs accounted for 2 percent of private capital equity investments. Under the program, to coincide with the department's weeklong minority business conference in September, five businesses will get the chance to sell their business plans to venture capitalists.

Organizers of the Mid-Atlantic Venture Fair, an annual gathering that brings companies together with venture capitalists, say there are spots left for companies that want to make presentations.The fair, billed as the largest event of its kind on the East Coast, will take place Nov. 17-18 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. The event normally alternates between Philadelphia and Baltimore, though it was held in Tysons Corner, Va., last year.Companies attending the fair make brief presentations in the hope of attracting start-up funds from the venture capitalists, bankers and other investors in attendance.

The team who created FastStitch, a surgical tool designed to quickly and cost-effectively close abdominal incisions after surgeries , has won the 2012 Collegiate Inventors Competition. Their first-place award will give the team $12,500, and their faculty adviser, Robert Allen, will receive an additional $4,000. FastStitch has already won more than $90,000 in grants and prizes and is shopping their product to venture capitalists via their start-up company, Archon Medical Technologies . Team member Daniel Peng said this was the most distinguished panel of judges the team had ever faced, including the inventors of angioplasty, a technique to widen arteries, and the first defibrillator, which shocks irregular hearts back into a normal rhythm. "It was very humbling because all the teams there were very talented," Peng said.

Young companies in Maryland, Washington and Northern Virginia raised 14 percent less venture capital funding in the third quarter than they did last year during the same period, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mid-Atlantic companies attracted $215.7 million from venture capitalists from July to September, compared with $245.7 million in the same period last year, the report showed. The regional decline mirrored a national one. Nationwide, $6.5 billion was invested in companies, down 11 percent from the third quarter last year.

Gus Sentementes' recent article noted that Lookingglass Cyber Solutions, one of our region's technology companies, had received $5 million in venture capital from sources on both coasts ("To find investors: Go west, young startup - but come back," Feb. 12). This is no small feat, since less than 1 percent of all companies receive this type of funding. Venture capital requires a perfect combination of strong management, a compelling product, a large market and little real competition - and, as Lookingglass CEO Derek Gabbard noted, good timing and luck.

Tom "TK" Kuegler is a New England-based venture capitalist who grew up in Baltimore — and who hasn't quite left the city behind. He finds himself here quite often, visiting family and volunteering with the board of sponsors at Loyola University Maryland's Sellinger School of Business. Lately, though, he finds himself in Baltimore on scouting missions — for the next hot startups. Kuegler is general partner and co-founder of Wasabi Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that funds and incubates technology startup companies.

The other evening, former Baltimore Sun reporters Antero Pietila and C. Fraser Smith sat in the studios of WYPR radio discussing the life and times of William Lloyd "Little Willie" Adams, who died Monday at 97. Adams, who went from numbers runner to venture capitalist during his 60-year career, bankrolled some of the most prominent black-owned businesses in the city when regular banks wouldn't. Pietila and Smith were probably the last to interview the somewhat elusive and below-the-radar Adams, who preferred it that way, for their books.

William Lloyd "Little Willie" Adams, who went from being a numbers runner on the streets of Baltimore to the city's first prominent African-American venture capitalist, bankrolling numerous black-owned businesses such as Parks Sausage and Super Pride supermarkets, died Monday from pneumonia at Roland Park Place. He was 97 and had been in declining health in recent years. "Little Willie was an institution in Baltimore. And as far as the black community was concerned, he brought black entrepreneurs into the formerly all-white business community," former Mayor Thomas J. D'Alesandro III said Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - Ninety-two biotechnology companies at a matchmaking conference here with venture capitalists are finding that, while plenty of financial suitors express interest, the sluggish economy means investors are more discerning about actually tying the knot. "I think investments are being scrutinized much more closely than in the past," said L. William McIntosh, chief business officer for Baltimore-based startup FASgen Inc., just after finishing a breathless 10-minute presentation designed to get venture capitalists interested in his drug-development company.

Young companies in Maryland, Washington and Northern Virginia raised 14 percent less venture capital funding in the third quarter than they did last year during the same period, according to a new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mid-Atlantic companies attracted $215.7 million from venture capitalists from July to September, compared with $245.7 million in the same period last year, the report showed. The regional decline mirrored a national one. Nationwide, $6.5 billion was invested in companies, down 11 percent from the third quarter last year.

Billy Cundiff didn't exactly hear whispers. His friends and family were always too polite to say anything out loud, or at least within earshot. But he and his wife, Nicole, saw the occasional looks on people's faces. Those looks said plenty. It's been a long time since Billy had a kicking job with an NFL team. Wasn't it time to get serious about a life after football? Shouldn't all his focus be on looking for a real job? When is he going to, well, move on with his life? Cundiff smiles as he tells this story.